


When Things Explode

by thegirlwholoveshorror



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV), Multi-Fandom, No Fandom, Sabrina the Teenage Witch (TV), Supernatural RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Post-Apocalypse, Alternate Universe - Space, Multi, Pre-Apocalypse, SciFi and Fantasy, Wilderness Survival
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-25
Updated: 2018-06-25
Packaged: 2019-05-27 13:42:33
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,485
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15025883
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thegirlwholoveshorror/pseuds/thegirlwholoveshorror
Summary: It took the world billions of years of evolution to get to where it is, but only fifteen minutes to die: over 9 M people gone in barely a single moment's heartbeat. As history goes, the world would be reborn a solemn, shadowy place, shrouded in mystery by the very few humans still living on it and the monsters plaguing it. Among the last survivors, you'll also find though those who left for space and, in space, met their fate individually... for eternity and beyond, timelessly and independently.





	When Things Explode

**Author's Note:**

> This little story here was inspired from a dream I had recently.

###### I.

**August 19 th 2346**

The sky was a vibrant clear blue, the bright burning red sun shining up ahead: above the clouds, in the clouds… there were no birds at this level, just infinite space, a scope of unfathomable beauty: vast, unmeasurable, and boundless—like an infinite canvas with the future. The plane that they were on was not your average aircraft: though it wasn’t a spacecraft, it had left Earth and was now headed for an unknown destination somewhere in space, into the cosmos and away from this place: it hadn’t been planned; that’s just how it had to be now that the worst had come to happen. It was all over. Alas, little did the passengers on the plane know, the Earth had been submerged in water and invaded by sea monsters with sharp teeth, small almond-shaped black eyes with yellow slits in them and lizard-like skin, big and petrifying… like **giant snakes**.

Only five or six handfuls of people were on the plane – a group of men and women of different age groups and different personality types… some rich and some poor, some righteous and some lost. Together, they made a sorry bunch. Each of them had won their place on this plane through a contest of wills, and… little they did know just how truly lucky they were as their timing to board could not have been better!

As for how the plane was, well, the inside of it was shaped in rooms, the largest room on the plane a dining room where everyone ate every night together for supper. Each night was a catered affair, after all: the food was delicious, and the celebrations were merry. 

Now, even though they should've landed days ago, no one on the aeroplane had noticed how long they had been travelling together on the plane as they were having a good time together, celebrating their vacation in style. Similar to a cruise, this plane was designed to be extravagant; a plane inspired by the Titanic and other travel ships. And, much like the Titanic, the Earth was fated for tragedy, but this plane had saved its passengers from devastation: it had saved them from the end of the world. The biggest concern now was how could they continue to _survive..._

 

 

> Art thou abroad on this stormy night  
>  on thy journey of love, my friend?  
>  The sky groans like one in despair.  
>  I have no sleep tonight.  
>  Ever and again I open my door and look out on  
>  the darkness, my friend!  
>  I can see nothing before me.  
>  I wonder where lies thy path!  
>  By what dim shore of the ink-black river,  
>  by what far edge of the frowning forest,  
>  through what mazy depth of gloom art thou threading  
>  thy course to come to me, my friend? (Rabindranath Tagore/ 1861–1941 ~ FRIEND)

 

 

###### II.

**THEN**

_Jack stood in front of his bathroom mirror, tying his necktie—in Los Angeles, California, at his beautiful sea-side Spanish-style residence—, the pilot uniform—a measure of the courage he showed every day and a beacon of his professional identity—he wore ironed and shiny._

_In the living room, Melissa sat on the couch talking on her phone to her mother, Elizabeth, who was working now in Downtown L.A. Her things were already packed and she was ready to go. Melissa had begged her father to let her come on this trip as she wanted to spend time with her father. They were both always working, and it was killing her, as he was never with her. She loved her father more than she could say._

_Walking into the kitchen, Jack poured himself another cup of coffee, took a sip of it then put the cup down on the counter. Through the large bay windows of his kitchen, he glanced at the waves of the wide-spread ocean and saw their beauty only then taking a moment to notice how the ocean seemed upset as it threw its mighty waves at the shore with strong winds, almost as though they were trying to blow the sun out of sky. It was mildly **intimidating...** Jack didn't have much time to pay attention to it though. He had work to do —and was committed to doing it._

 

**NOW**

“What are we going to do?” asked the flight attendant to the pilot. She stood next to him, from where he sat at his post, staring out at the sky.

“We have two options, Cassy,” said the pilot named Jack, all smooth professionalism and quiet laid-back knowledge. “Either we go into the white light,” he said, “or we land in Lasoria,” he added. “I’ve gotten word that there’s a dwelling under the sea where there are still some survivors, not far off the coast from where Australia used to be, midway between here and there. It’s not a good life, mind you, but at least it’s a life. We can’t all go, but some of us still can. We're headed there right now actually,”

“Do you really think that any of us will accept to go into the white light, if we have the choice not to? It’s suicide,”

“They won't have a choice; and, we’ll just have to wait and see now, won’t we? From experience, I know that there are always volunteers,”

 

##### | | |

As Melissa listened to what they were saying from behind the door to the cockpit, she gasped and wheezed. It felt like the bottom of her world had fallen out. The world had ended, and her life as she knew it was now over. Her mother and friends had surely died. She was now living in a world of brutal torment, and, the worst part of it all was that they were being lied to about it... by her father no less... It was scandalous.

 

_**15 minutes later** _

“Now, I don’t want anyone to panic,” said Melissa as she walked into main room, a look of serious resolve painted across her dazzling sweet little face, something to contrast against her freckles and the childlike aspect in appearance that they gave her, her long and ever so curly blond hair bouncing up and down around her shoulders as she walked. This girl couldn't be any older than maybe 26 or 27. 

The game had changed, and Melissa felt betrayed and thought the other passengers on the plane had every right to know about what was going on. She would tell them the basics in words they can understand of what happened then wait for her father to then fill them in on the rest. When they found out, they would freak on her, but it was the right thing to do. That being said, they would find out sooner or later anyway.

“What’s the deal?” asked George, as usual with a tone of anger to his voice, albeit stronger now as he didn’t like bad news, hated change and had never been one to want to adapt to unforeseen or unexpected circumstances. It was making him angry just thinking about it!

That said, the guy was a crackpot, and everybody on the plane knew it. Although George always felt like he was one to be scrutinized, he was actually the one to constantly pick fights. He was always insulting and condescending to the staff and the other passengers.

“There’s been a change of **plans**. We’re not headed for Capri anymore,”

“Where’re we headed?” asked Lily, that wounded little look she always wore shining ever so brighter as she was already expecting the worst possible news, her appearance so fragile, her arms already shaking... She was starting to get dizzy.

“The captain has been trying to keep this from us…” said Melissa, about to continue when Julian interrupted, “–Pilot?”

“Air is fluid, you idiot,” answered Gina, followed by a huff and a few giggles in the room. “And no one gives a fuck,”

“Gina!” said Julian, tired of Gina always berating and flagging him and flabbergasted by it all as Gina was his girlfriend: his one true love, as he liked to consider her. That didn't seem to bother Gina or make her flinch though, as, just then ripping through a loaf of French bread with her teeth, Gina’s only response was to grin then smirk bigly at Julian, all her teeth showing and with a mouthful of food, in that obnoxious way that people sometimes do when they’re trying to make a joke. “Well it is,”

As it went, Julian simply pouted and seethed. “You're so bitchy. I don't understand how I put up with you,”

“We’re headed for the white light,”

At the sound of those words and as the attention was pulled back to Melissa, the entire room went silent.

“You're joking,” said Camden. “You can't be serious,”

“You don't have to believe me,” said Melissa. “However, it's true,” 

Just then, the room broke out into frenzy: and, with side-splitting alarm, the passengers started to ask questions all at once, displaying every single sentiment from the spectrum of emotions –confusion, fury, disbelief, anger, sadness, terror.

As there were countless questions and reactions happening all at once, the attention unmistakably divided, Melissa was left feeling **overwhelmed** and shocked into silence at seeing the sheer magnitude of their emotions come unraveled as a few then started picking fights with others and some others had left the room to gather their things. She hadn’t expected this, but couldn't blame them as there had to be a sense of dread and fear penetrating their very souls. Something had to be very wrong if they were headed out into the _nothing,_ perhaps even out of this very universe and into the next, with no certitude of their survival or where they would go, or what dangers awaited them on the other side.

“Everyone calm down!” cried Melissa. “I told you not to panic!”

On the other hand, Gina then yelled after her, “Shut the fuck up, you pieces of shit, or you’ll all die!”

The whole room then fell into a resounding silence, safe for the stir in commotion caused by George and Lukas – a boy half his age – who had been fighting each other for the last few minutes and were now struggling with each other on the floor. George was on top of Lukas now with his hands around his shirt collar, shaking him and slating him, slurs falling from his mouth and spit falling from his mouth onto Lukas’s face…

“Get off me, you sicko!” cried Lukas.

Just as George was about to lay a punch to Lukas’s face, Jordan yelled “Not so fast!” and pulled George off of Lukas.

“Get your hands off me!” screamed George as he was pulled off Lukas, Jeff coming to help Jordan pull George off of Lukas at the very last minute.

At this sequences and turn of events, the whole room could only stare in horror and dismay. Many cursed the heavens that they were stuck on this plane with George Maine— a much too pompous and far too fickle millionaire extraordinaire.

Afterwards, George continued to breathe loudly through his nose for: he was angry for not being treated with the respect that he was ‘obviously’ deserved. He regretted getting on this plane. Maybe he should have just stayed behind and died with the rest of humanity...

“We need to stick together, not turn against each other. Right now, all we have is each other,” said Melissa. A moment passed. Melissa looked around and saw that they were quietly staring at her. “And now that I have your attention again,” she continued, “I don’t know all the details of what’s happened –our captain will have to fill us in on that later –, but it seems that there’s been an incident, and _we can’t go home_ ,”

Silence continued to reign, uncomfortably so now. If there had been crickets nearby, you could have heard them.

“Why can’t we go home?” asked Lily, her tiny voice shaking.

“There’s nothing to go back to. The world has ended and begun anew,”

 

It wasn’t long thereafter before the flight attendants had to intervene because the passengers were all fired up.

 

 

###### III.

“Nothing, mom!” yelled Camden through her door. Her mother had asked what she was up to and if she’d be joining them for breakfast soon.

The cuts that she laid upon herself, all over her arms and legs, would be hidden soon by her pretty clothes. She couldn’t help but smile at the thought that, soon, it would be all over. She was glad to be alive just to live through _this_ : this catastrophe, this chaos, this havoc, this mayhem… It was like the craziest of drugs. It made her _feel alive_ : usually, all she felt was emptiness; now, she felt **fullness**...

 

 

###### IV.

**August 22 nd 2346**

It was morning, and all the passengers sat around the dining room table trying to eat breakfast when the pilot of the plane walked into the room and clapped his hands together, as if to announce himself. As always, he was done up with his uniform, his hair combed back smoothly.

Jack had been up all night preparing for this moment... It would be a difficult conversation, namely as he would have to try and bring them from away from the first four stages of grief and to the fifth and so forward, getting to the stage where they'd focus solely on rebuilding their lives, as well as trump all their ill-feelings for him now that they knew that he can been keeping important news from them for some time now.

“Good morning, sirs and madams,” he pronounced. “It’s been brought to my attention that some very sensitive information has been leaked to you by my daughter, Melissa,” said Jack as he shot Melissa a disappointed look. At that, Melissa lowered her head. She’d already got the run through by her father. She knew and understood now that she never should've told them. All she had done was aggravate the situation, to enrage the passengers and make matters worse. “It was not in my intention to have you all worried as the crew and I worked out a plan,” he said.

“What right do you have—” bawled Kevin, only to be interrupted by Gabriella, one of the plane’s flight attendants, who stood straighter next to the pilot and said, with sure fire, “Please listen to what he has to say first. It's important, and we all need to hear it,”

Kevin bit his tongue.

“As you may already know,” continued the pilot, “there’s been a great misfortune,” he said.

“What kind of—” interrupted Gina, only to be shushed by Gabriella.

 “Last Tuesday at about 2:30 pm, the Earth’s surface was covered in water. We lost contact with our bases at 3:37 pm,” he said, “There’s been an invasion,” he continued, “we were attacked and invaded by sea mongers. We don’t know where these creatures come from and how exactly this terrible tragedy has come to happen. All we know right now is that we are among the last humans alive, and we need to act quickly,”

The room remained silent. The passengers sat quietly and, all at once, stopped picking at their food, as they had lost of their appetites.

“We have some important **decisions** to make,” added Gabriella, one the two flight attendants from the plane.

“What choices do we have?” asked Philip.

“We can go into the white light, not knowing in what universe or place we’ll end up and what dangers await us, or we can go down under. See: there’re Earth survivors, albeit only a few of them, and we can join them where they live under the sea. Please note though that it will be a life of high risk that will involve some altercations to our lifeforms. We may not all survive. We also can’t all go,”

“Conversely, we have to choose quickly as we were supposed to land early last week, and we only have three rounds of gas left to keep the plane going. Also, we’re running dry on food and other means,” added Cassy, the second flight attendant.

“I say we join our comrades down under!” yelled Tommy.

“I think that should take on the white light!” retorted Julian.

“The good news is that we don’t all have to stay, and we don’t all have to go. Some of us can go, and some of us can **stay**. Raise your hand those of you who want to join the last few Earth survivors in their brigade,”

More than half raised their hands: some timidly; others decisively.

Amongst those who raised their hands could be counted Lily, Tommy, Philip, Melissa, Wendy, and George. Amongst those who wanted to go into the white light were Jordan, Lukas, Julian, Gina, and Jamie.

“Next Friday night at 8:00 pm CT, those of us who want to stay will land. As for the rest of us, we’ll head on,” said finally the captain.

 

 

###### V.

**THEN**

_Jamie and Lily boarded the plane, their passports and luggage in hand and nerves on edge. Lily saw this trip as a way to reconnect with Jamie—her girlfriend of five years—, as she felt they had been drifting apart for some time now; Jamie saw this trip as a means to break up with Lily. Their relationship has become work, and Jamie really didn’t need a third job… that said, when she broke up with Lily, she could get rid of her second job and maybe go back to school, as she wouldn’t have to support her anymore like she had been doing for the last couple of years._

**NOW**

“Jamie…” said Lily from her position where she stood by the threshold of the Jamie’s room, her beautiful and very long stringy and straight blond hair hanging down by her slim waist. She awaited an invitation to come in. Call it girlish insecurity, but Lily felt like, somehow, this whole mess was her fault.

Jamie sat in the middle of her bed, cross-legged and staring down at a magazine of some sort, a pensive look to her face, her shoulder length blond hair cut neatly: a graceful look for a beautiful girl. “What do you want?”

“I just want to talk,”

“Well, I don’t want to talk. Get out,”

“Don’t you think that we should talk?”

“I said, get out! Get out now!” yelled Jamie as she got up from her position on the bed, sauntering over to the door to slam it shut in Lily’s face.

“Just leave me alone,” then whispered Jamie as she leaned her back against the door, a look of grief and woe etched across her kind features. She knew that Lily wouldn't be able to hear her whispered words, but that wasn't the point: the words needed to be said, not heard.

She was being forced to destroy her pride yet again. However, once she regained her calm, her tension would surely pass as it always did.

 

 

###### VI.

**NOW**

“How do you think life is down under?” asked Wendy.

“It can’t be worse than being on this plane,” bit back Lukas.

“What about those going into the white light? I can’t imagine what they’re going to be met with on the other side,” she said. She then looked down pensively at her sundae, hesitating a fraction of a moment before finally saying what was on her mind, “but I wonder if it doesn’t matter where we choose to go. I wonder if, in the end, we’ll all die,”

“Don’t talk like that,” said Lily. “Don’t be so dark,”

“Don’t you think it’s appropriate to think about these things… to talk about them? We’re like caged rats. Humankind is rotting, and the world is under water. Just think about it,”

“Well, that’s a disturbing thought,” said Lukas.

“Don’t you think I know what?!” cried Lily as she burst into the tears and ran out of the room.

“Shut up, Wendy, before you scare every Tom, Dick, and Harry half to death,” said Mark as he walked into the kitchen and pulled a bottle of water out of the fridge, closing it and then taking a gulp of water from the bottle.

“What happens will happen. No need to beat it half to death,” added Gina. With one hand, she took a drag of her cigarette; with the other, she twirled a strand of her dark chocolate brown hair between her fingers. “If we're over the hill and bound for death, we might as well enjoy the ride down. That's what I think anyway,”

 

**SOMETIME IN THE FUTURE**

_It was night when Maggie awoke in the long grass of an unknown and mysterious place. The grass was black. The sky was a dark green, the moon large and the waters a bright silver. Up ahead, a cluster of stars lit the sky. The trees around were taller than he’d ever seen, dirt patches rounding their way about their bases. The sound of crickets resounded lightly in the distance, the vision of fireflies lighting up the space above the grass._

 

_**6 months later** _

_“I can’t imagine living the rest of our days here,” said Maggie as she stopped her pacing then stared straight ahead into the distance._

_Jared responded “Just be happy that you get to have a life,” from where he sat in the long grass._

_“He's right,” remarked comfortably Jensen from by his side, his long tail curling down around Jared's. “I'm sure not all your comrades from the plane had the chance to make it through to the other side like you did,”_

_Maggie swallowed and nodded. She walked silently over to them then sat down._

_They were beautiful: wonderfully sculpted and majestic creatures, things to be reckoned with. They were as tall as the tallest of trees —over 400 feet tall— and very lean with soft peach-colored fur and bright yellow eyes that had incredible eyesight, able to see in the dark and far into the distance. They had broad shoulders and strong legs best used to roaming the mountains and forests of Pahsk._

 

 

###### VII.

Lily looked out the window at the beautiful white clouds in the bright blue sky and pondered her darkness. It seems like many of them had been doing the same since they had found out the news. She thought back to her childhood and to her father who had raised her as a single father after her mother died. Closing her eyes, she felt warm tears run from under her eyelids and down her cheeks to her lips, her nose dripping ever so slightly as she wondered what must have gone through his head as the world had come to an end. She wonders if he had thought of her as it happened and wishes she could have been there to hold his hand when he died, maybe even die with him as he loved him so much.

 

 

###### VIII.

**August 27 th 2346**

“Everything happens for a reason,” said Philip. “This is part of God's plan. God doesn't make mistakes,”

“What a load of shit!” said George from his position not too far.

“I’m sorry, but this conversation doesn’t implicate you, so fuck off,” said Gina, in her usual sassy way.

“I don’t give a flying shit what you think,” retorted George, his words spat like venom, hatred and bitterness bubbling beneath the surface and threatening to burst: a ticking time bomb. “There are two kinds of folk: those who can’t handle the truth, and those who are willing to make the tough decisions and haul ass. If you don’t like it, then you, my boy, need to get out,”

Philip asked, “And how do you suppose I do that?”

“What the Hell is your problem, mate?” exasperated Drake.

“My problem is that the world is dead, and the only survivors I’ve yet to meet are complete fucking morons!”

“I’ll show you who the moron is—”

“Leave it, Lukas,” said Rosalyn, Camden’s mother. “Don’t give him what he wants. He’s so not worth it,”

“Now, that's a sure-fire thing,” Gina replied.

Walking over to Rosalyn, George prepared to viciously lay into her with his words. “Just be glad you’re surrounded by all these nice big men to take care of you,” he spat. “It sure would be nice to be a **_woman_ ,**”

 

 

###### IX.

“Why are you choosing to go into the white light?” asked Maggie.

“You wouldn’t understand,” answered swiftly Anna.

“You needn’t worry of my opinion, Anna. We’ll be in separate worlds soon— or perhaps galaxies, or universes...”

“It’s complicated and boring,” answered Anna.

“Please…”

“Fine,” sighed Anna, “Just give me a minute,”

A few moments passed.

“All my life, I’ve taken the easy way out on everything. I’ve always a coward—a cowards that doesn't care,” said Anna. “And I think that, because of that, I’ve never been able to fit in anywhere, never been able to belong anywhere…” she continued, “not that I wanted to anyhow. And that’s what tortures me. Always seeing the bigger picture… never trying to make friends…” she said.  “I always wanted to be accepted and loved, but never wanted to mingle because I always felt like this couldn’t be my life…” she said. “Don’t you see? This could be my salvation: my deliverance... Maybe maybe out there, I’ll finally find the place where I belong, and maybe then I’ll be redeemed, liberated as I always imagined and hoped to be…”

 

 

###### X.

It was night. Alone in his room, his deceased wife in mind, George sought comfort in alcohol. Downing drink after drink, he ran through a litany of memories of her. He drank until he couldn't any more then stumbled outside...

 

##### | | |

A particularly vivid dream had caused Gabriella to bolt upright in her bed. The plane was silent, sleeping, and, finally, defenseless—only a flickering of small lights breaking the gloom onto the floors of the deserted hallways of the plane. At the sound of screaming, Gabriella pushed the covers off of herself and raced out of bed and into the hallway.

 

**_67 seconds later_ **

George pried open one of the doors of the aircraft. The pressure and force behind that act pulled all the passengers and things in the room towards the open crevice, the cries of terror from the people around high-pitched and penetrating. They tried to cling to whatever they could, but the suction was too strong and they were being dragged near the open door. The entire plane shook, **warning** lights flashing, and most of what you could hear was the roar of the wind and engines. They were 10,000 ft. into the air, gazing out over the clouds, and about to die.

“Close the door!” cried Cassy.

“We’re all dead anyway!” shouted George.

Gabriella who has been trying to keep the door closed when it was opened now desperately clung to it.

Just then, George cried, indecently apathetic and with exploding resentment, as he pulled Lukas by the collar and those around yelled for him to stop it. Jordan tried to grab Lukas' hand, the rest of them grasping for the walls…

A moment’s struggle later, the door was closed, and George was left sitting on the ground, but not before being on the receiving end of punches to his face and kicks to his stomach by none other but Jordan, Drake and Lukas.

“I say we dump him in the middle of nowhere,” said Jeff.

“We’re better than that. We’re nothing like _him_ ,” answered the pilot.

 

 

###### XI.

**August 28 th 2346**

“We can teleport ourselves there. We have the means to do it,”

“If we teleport ourselves there and don’t like what we see, can we teleport ourselves back here?” asked Jeff.

“There won’t be much time to do so as we’ll be heading for the white light a mere couple of hours after you’ve landed, but yes,” answered Cassy.

“Will we be able to transmit any messages to each other?”

“Unfortunately, that won't be possible,” added the pilot. “We'll be worlds apart,”

 

 

###### XII.

It was their last night together on the plane. It was festive, but every moment came along with what was a riot of contradicting emotions like fear of the unknown, anticipation for the future, joy at being alive, pain of loss... Music played, and some danced... Throughout it all though, it seemed like it was their last meal and last time to dance, like they were going out there a sorry bunch and going back a dead one, their death sentence a clear cast-iron certainty. For the kids, it felt like they were getting ready for an exam for which they didn’t know the topic and couldn’t study for.

 

 

###### XIII.

“Come with me,” pleaded Lily.

“I’m going,” said Jamie.

“I want you to stay,”

“You’re welcome to come with me if you want,”

“What do you mean by 'if I want?' God, Jamie… don’t you _love_ me?”

“I do love you, Lily. I just won’t stay for you… As well as I’m tired of you always acting like this, like some kind of damsel in distress! You exhaust me half the time,”

Lily gasped... How could Jamie say these terrible things to her?

“What you need do is to own up and grow a pair because I’m sick of always being the strong one. I’m sick of you not being able to handle yourself and asking me to bail you out. Don’t you think I get scared and worried sometimes? The only real difference between you and me is that I’m not running away from my problems just because they’re bad,”

 

 

###### XIV.

**September 1 st 2346**

One by one, those who chose to stay on Earth were teleported into the depths of the dark blue sea where so little light penetrates, oxygen is sparse and pressure is tremendous: colorful fishes, dark caves and unknown creatures... a hidden world near where Australia used to be and on the underwater grounds of Antarctica. Although the waters were clear, beautiful, and blue, a reminder of how the skies had been before when they were on ground, this time it was however different as the survivors bathed in their doom, their disaster…

On the outskirts of the all-inclusive community of Lasoria were the lizordius: animals of grand and chilling shapes: **intelligent** , yet mindless, primitive and ravenous creatures, dead-set to abolish and terminate all lifeforms but their own.

 

 

###### XV.

The plane raced through the clouds, slammed through them at light speed in fact, in a straight line and without a shred of turbulence to be had.

The light was bright and white. In the darkness of their minds, their eyes became shock-filled at the sight of the blinding bright white light. The more they approached it, the more it seemed to englobe everything: the whole kit and caboodle, the whole ball of wax... Unease shook their bones like lightning on a metal rooftop, their minds paralyzed in fear... All they could hear was the beating of their hearts and their own sad inhalations.

Then, in a moment’s heartbeat, all they could see was darkness and all they could feel or think was **_nothing._**

Like a deathly blow, it was impossible to know how much time had passed. It could have been seconds, minutes, hours, days, years, decades or centuries… When they gained full consciousness, they were dispersed… into different areas of space and time, lost in the null and void…

 

 

###### XVI.

It should never have been this way, but here they were: fighting for their lives—and a better future.

 

**THEN**

_They were waiting in line to board the plane, their boarding passes, passports, luggage, and iPhones in hand._

_“Hi,” said Lily, turning around to look at the person behind her. “I'm Lily,”_

_“Hi,” answered Camden. “I'm Camden,”_

_“I'm nervous,” said Lily, voicing her concerns, “I've never taken a plane before,”_

_“I wouldn't worry about it. I've taken flights before, and nothing bad ever happens,”_

_“I wouldn't be so sure,” giggled Gina from behind them both._

_From his position next to her, Julian sighed, “I'm sorry about my girlfriend. She's just missing with you,”_

_“And it's not appreciated,” snipped Rosalyn at she turned to give Gina a dirty look. “Leave the poor girl alone,” she added. Turning back to look at Lily, she gave her a reassuring smile, “Don't fret, dear. You'll be just fine. This, I assure you. You're in good hands,”_

_“Oh, I see,” said Lily before turning back and facing the front, worry etched in her brow, glancing around herself quickly as she gave the flight attendant her boarding pass and passport for verification before following Jamie onto the plane. Once on the airplane, she would squeeze Jamie's elbow as if to communicate so much she couldn't possibly say. She would then that night seek comfort in the arms of her._

 

###  **ENDING OF 'CHAPTER 1: AND NO ONE ELSE'**

 


End file.
